1. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to optical communications networks and in particular to a method and system for detecting network elements in an optical communications network.
2. Description of Related Art
In existing optical communications networks, network elements are provisioned to identify connections to ports on network elements. Existing networks rely on manual provisioning in which technicians perform initial provisioning and periodically update the provisioned information on a network element. The network topology may also be entered manually in a provisioning database. For a typical long haul network, this can require a labor-intensive and time-consuming entry of hundreds of fiber optic port connections. Due to the nature of a long haul network, the network elements may be physically distributed over a large geographic area. This necessitates sending technicians to these locations to verify the provisioning. Due to the human factor, the process of manually provisioning network elements and updating the provisioning database is both time-consuming and prone to entry errors. Often, the provisioning database does not accurately reflect physical network topology due to a failure to update physical changes in the provisioning database.